An unconfirmed report has yet another top Harrah's Entertainment exec relinquishing his post. If what I hear is true, Senior Vice President of Gaming Ken Weil is stepping down. If so, Weil would be the fourth high-ranking Harrah's executive to leave since Dec. 31. Already the little pictures of Tony Santo, Anthony Sanfilippo and Tim Wilmott have disappeared from the "Management Team" page of Harrah's Web site. A Weil departure would whittle the number of faces down to 14. Who will be next?
Meanwhile, tentative congratulations to Chief Information Officer Tim Stanley. He has reportedly been given a new honorific, Senior Vice President of Innovation & Gaming. As Stanley is one of the leading lights of Harrah's database-marketing/IT operation, the company is probably loath to lose him during this transitional period. A bigger title, a bigger portfolio and (I hope) a bigger salary — if indeed that's what Stanley is getting — would make a powerful incentive for him to stay onboard when so many others are jumping ship or being flung over the side.
In an unrelated development … Harrah's rolled out a field trial of EZ Baccarat yesterday. It looks as though it will be more profitable for the casino and may even save them a few dealer salaries … but I don't see the 'whales' going for it.
Maybe it's comparable to Harrah's embrace of Rapid Roulette: an effort to broaden the appeal of table games to the masses. It worked at Caesars Palace.
Adios Boyd, Hola Pinnacle: Since it could easily be overshadowed by Pinnacle Entertainment's issuance of 10 million new shares of stock, we'd like to tout the addition of classy gent Ellis Landau to the Pinnacle board. Landau, who retired as Boyd Gaming's CFO last year, fills the board seat left vacant by former entertainment and casino exec Timothy Parrott.
Parrott now runs the American operations of Aristocrat Technologies, a post vacated by Gavin Isaacs, who went to Bally Technologies … as the game of musical chairs continues. Landau received a sort of housewarming gift, in the form of a thousand shares of Pinnacle stock. The company did not disclose the shares' exercise date.
